Our God removes barriers
by Pastor Glenn Crouch
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The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean’ (Acts 10:15).
Read Acts 10:1–16
In Acts 8, we saw that the gospel was breaking down barriers: Samaritans were welcomed into God’s kingdom, and an African was now a follower of Jesus (and we can just imagine what the Holy Spirit would do through him when he got home). This week, we are going to see the lengths that Holy Spirit will go through to bring the gospel to the Gentiles (which, for most reading this, is ‘us’!). The Ethiopian continued home and thus was not a part of the church that was growing in Israel. That church was completely Jewish. So, how was the gospel going to be spread to the non-Jews, if the Jewish Christians could not associate with them (for example, share a meal, enter their homes, etc.)?
In today’s reading, we see that Peter has a big problem with this. Did you notice how many times the Lord had to send him that vision? Peter needed to move well out of his comfort zone in order to fulfill what Jesus had commanded in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20), which was to go and make disciples of all nations – not just the Jews.
There wasn’t a meeting held in those early days to discuss how they were going to proclaim the gospel, let alone how Gentiles were supposed to ‘fit in’ to the church. Did they need to become Jews first? Were there to be two separate gatherings? We really don’t understand what a big step this was for Peter and the church – but the Holy Spirit did and was already at work!
Perhaps it is a good time to examine ourselves – examine our church – to see whether there are things we are declaring to be ‘impure’ that God has made clean.
Gracious and forgiving Father, do not let me be a barrier when it comes to the spread of your gospel. Rather help me to clearly hear your Spirit within me, and to follow him. Persist with me as you did Peter. Help me, Lord, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Glenn is the Pastor of St John’s Lutheran Church in Esperance and also looks after St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Karen and he have been married since 1985 and have two grown sons – and have recently become grandparents.
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